Project Description

Medical Internships in Cape Town

If you’re considering a career as a nurse, physicians assistant, or doctor, VACorps offers an excellent selection of medical internships in South Africa. As a medical intern in our program, you will be working alongside qualified healthcare professionals at one of community healthcare clinics or hospitals. South Africa faces many serious healthcare issues, including high rates of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis – especially among women and young children. There is a high demand for healthcare in low-income areas of the city and many public hospitals and clinics lack appropriate funding and access to primary care. The overall experience will give you first-hand access to South Africa’s public healthcare system and will teach you a wide-range of skills that you’ll carry with you for a lifetime.

Please note that our clinical internships are nearing capacity between the months of May to the end of August of 2018. If you are interested in this internship, please email Thomas directly (thomas@vacorps.com) with your goals, interests, and a copy of your resume.

Whether you are looking to gain experience shadowing doctors and other healthcare professionals in one of our rural clinics, or an internship that involves a specialised field such as dentistry, paediatrics, or epidemiology, we will place you at a site where you will receive an experience that is relevant to your professional objectives.

Our public health internships are still wide open and offer complete flexibility all throughout the year!

Why you should consider one of our healthcare internships in South Africa:

Gain familiarity with South Africa’s healthcare system

Gain a unique understanding of HIV/AIDS and TB in South Africa

Shadow and interact with established professionals and gain resume-boosting clinic hours

Work directly in the communities that you will be serving during your internship experience

Discover a new culture and the health-related challenges South Africans face.

An international medical internship will greatly enhance your professional resume and many of our alumni have been accepted to medical and PA schools after having completed their internships with VACorps. Visit our testimonials page to learn more about the specific experiences of past healthcare interns. Contact us today to discover how you can participate in a medical internship in Cape Town that will provide you with an introduction to a unique healthcare system in an African country.

Highlights from a VACorps medical program alumni”

“Professionally, it was very interesting to explore the South African healthcare system. The Doctor’s bedside manner was very different than in the USA because of the locals general lack of knowledge and health literacy. I became very observant to patient’s reactions and physical cues in regards to pain, which was quite helpful with the language barrier (most patients speak Xhosa). I really saw it all during my time at the clinic. I witnessed victims of community assaults (probably shocked me the most), to casting children’s broken bones, stab wounds, chest tubes, births, and more. I loved how much I was able to see and learn in such a short amount of time and reflecting on it all, I think of so many faces and stories.” —Hannah Sandwith.

Madhavi participated in a Human Rights & Public Health internship in Cape Town, in 2017. "The main reason I chose to intern in Cape Town is that I wanted to learn about how health systems functioned [...]

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Testimonials.

My internship not only provided life-changing experience that I will draw on for the rest of my life but it enabled me to actually contribute to the local community; a community that continues to blow me away at its amazing joy in the face of countless obstacles.

Joey Sharp.

My life is forever changed by this beautiful country and the amazing people in VAC who made this experience a possibility. Leaving South Africa now is not goodbye, it’s see you later. One day (hopefully soon) I will be back. Until then, I will forever carry this place in a special spot in my heart.

Courtney Streiker

The past three months spent conquering fears and realizing dreams have changed me in a way that I did not imagine possible.

Erin Berni.

My three months in Cape Town turned my world upside down – in a wonderful way. Between spending my days at my internship and my nights and weekends with my VAC family, I felt as though every moment was packed to the brim with unforgettable memories.

Lauren Blodgett

VAC proved invaluable in helping me maximize my time here, both through exploring Cape Town and in accommodating me to my job and daily needs. If you are looking for an epic, perspective-shifting summer, then I would highly recommend Cape Town and VAC to you.